The Spectacle Blog

Some conservative bloggers and many of our readers have suggested that they will stay home from the polls this November as retribution for the Republicans' shameful showing in Congress.

As an apparent answer to that argument, the guys at RedState took a look at who would chair Congressional committees if Democrats were in charge. It is enough to make you vote for Mike DeWine.

That said, I think some very smart people on the right are falling into the trap of looking at these local and state elections through such a national lens. Yes, national events and Congressional actions impact those races. But ultimately, what will matter, is how your guy voted. Urging Republicans to hit the polls or stay home is largely futile -- if they have a good candidate, who well represents his district, they will turn out. If he is a RINO representing St. George, Utah, he will be sent packing.

According to this report in the FT, the French region of Champagne may be threatened by groundwater containing nuclear waste. Champagne, according to Churchill, is bottled sunshine. Maybe it'll glow in the dark.

When I wrote today's column, I did not realize that tomorrow, Thursday, Hastert becomes the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history. More reason for him, after tomorrow, to rest on his laurels and announce that this will be his last term -- not in Congress, but as Speaker.

Between Henry Paulson's chairmanship of the Nature Conservancy, his wife's financial support for Democrats, and his donations to Bill Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Emily's List, some conservatives are finding plenty disappointment in his nomination.

Pejman at Red State does us all a service by keeping alive the discussion about the horrible Kelo case that amounted to such an abuse of the power of eminent domain, so that now, apparently, private land can be seized by the government for other private, not public, use. One addendum to the wisdom in Pejman's blog post: Eminent domain abuse is one of the primary reasons why, if Republicans want to fight on judges, they won't please merely the conservative "base" but also will win over lots of converts from voters in the middle.

For all the handwringing the New York Times does over WMD evidence, one would suppose they would be especially careful in all areas. Not when it comes to the events at Haditha. Today's dispatch suggests the Times has come across new evidence of a cover up by the Marines. Eric Schmitt and David S. Cloud lead breathlessly:

A military investigator uncovered evidence in February and March that contradicted repeated claims by marines that Iraqi civilians killed in Haditha last November were victims of a roadside bomb, according to a senior military official in Iraq.

The Power Line guys posted a Memorial Day weekend list of the 21 best American novels. The list is mostly solid, except for a classic omission: John Steinbeck. English departments usually omit his works from their syllabi, for reasons that elude me (though I am told many English profs can't stand his moralizing).

Hinderaker writes that they ignored "politics and sociology" in compiling the list, but when a friend suggests Grapes of Wrath, he replies, "No socialist realism for us, thank you!" So I guess politics were not ignored? Either Grapes or East of Eden deserve a place on any list of best American novels.

Postscript to my thoughts on Sudan last week: we need a public conversation grounded in actual fact on the Somali situation, where the War on Terror has gone hot. The trouble is the same problem that has lurked at the heart of the war since its inception -- it is really a war on terrorist Islam, and anyone who picks up a gun and starts shooting bad guys is on our side for good or ill. In the case of Somali warlords, the same types that once gave us Black Hawk Down, the ill is palpable. They occupy hospitals, and they appear to be losing.

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